The World Organization Against Torture has released a report exposing new and detailed accounts of physical and psychological abuse in Taliban detention centres, citing evidence of systematic torture by the group’s intelligence agency.
The report, based on extensive interviews with detainees held between 2021 and 2024, documents severe human rights violations including the burning of bodies with heated rods, beatings with electric cables, electric shocks, and sexual assault. Many victims were arrested arbitrarily and subjected to abuse during detention.
Prepared in collaboration with the Civil Society and Human Rights Network and Human Rights Defenders Plus, the report identifies the Taliban’s intelligence directorate as the primary body responsible for the repression of opposition voices. Victims include human rights defenders, journalists, female activists, minorities, and former government employees.
The organisation noted that many of the detention facilities are unregistered and operate without independent oversight, with their locations often unknown. In 2023, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) attributed over 60 percent of documented torture cases to Taliban intelligence.
Detainees interviewed for the report described being blindfolded, transferred to undisclosed locations, and subjected to repeated acts of physical and psychological torture. Methods included beatings with water pipes and electric cables, electric shocks, simulated drowning, and burning with heated rods.
Most victims were held in small, dark solitary confinement cells, with some reporting detention lasting up to three months. The report states that psychological abuse was integral to the Taliban’s strategy, including death threats, religious and gender-based insults, intimidation, and forced confessions.
Victims also reported being denied access to healthcare, legal representation, and family visits. The report highlights that the abuse was often ideological and discriminatory in nature, targeting victims' identities and beliefs with the intent to degrade and dehumanise them.
The report further documents widespread discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities, particularly Shia Muslims and Hazaras. Detainees recounted being subjected to derogatory slurs, denied family contact, and insulted based on their ethnicity and faith throughout their detention.
Human rights groups have previously reported on similar patterns of abuse in Taliban prisons. Last week, the organisation Rawadari published its own findings, alleging that the Taliban systematically engage in physical, sexual, and psychological torture from the moment of arrest through to release, in violation of international human rights standards.
